Two Train Wrecks in One

Your bemused Peasant reported a few weeks ago
that U.S. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) admitted that
the implementation of the Affordable Care Act,
a/k/a Obamacare, will be a "train wreck" for all
the inherent complications in setting it up, along
with some additional snags; this from a senator,
by the way, who was one of the principal archi-
tects of this hellacious legislation. It's par for the
course, as the act itself is a train wreck as well.

As the deadlines approach for getting us all enrolled
in the program, the consequences of this mess are
now becoming manifestly apparent. And a burgeon-
ing movement has begun to defund or repeal outright
the act. What is most astonishing, though, is that
there are some Democrats joining the chorus!
Former DNC chieftain Howard Dean, a physician
by trade and a long-time supporter of government-
provided health care no less, has called for repeal.
35 House Democrats voted with Republicans to
delay the "individual mandate" part of the plan
for a whole year. President Obama himself has
unilaterally waived the Employer Mandate until
after next year's elections, as the forecasted loss
of jobs, the downgrading of many full-time jobs
(30 hours or more) to part-time status (29 hours
or less), the cost to businesses, and the public
outrage prompted Obama's decision, as he does
not want to risk not only failing to regain the
House from the GOP but losing the Senate to
them as well. The president wants to bring this
mandate back after the election when he thinks it
will be safe from an electoral standpoint for his
party.

Among the complications in Obamacare:

*Congress repealed the IRS 1099 reporting mandate
in 2011, after it was shown to be a significant finan-
cial burden on small businesses.
*$500 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage which
were to go into effect last year were put off until this
year, so as to stave off electoral anger that may have
prevented Obama from winning a second term.
*The CLASS Act insurance provisions were repealed
as part of the "fiscal cliff" talks (remember them?)
when both sides agreed that it was, in essence, a
"ponzi scheme" and "unworkable".

Obama also delayed anti-fraud and income verification
measures until 2015, so as to increase participation in
the health care exchanges. But the prez also added a
provision that would exempt Congress and their staff
from participation; they will continue to receive the
health care plan that the taxpayers have paid at least
75% of every year! Furthermore, he has assured his
union supporters that they too will not lose their
fantastically generous health care coverage as they
too will be exempted from Obamacare! Question:
if the Affordable Care Act is such a great health
care panacea for the American people, if it is the
health insurance equivalent to a wonder drug, if
it is the greatest thing to come along since ice cream
(or at least penicillin), then why are Congress, labor
unions, and other chums of Obama's all so anxious
to avoid being ushered into registration for the
plan along with us peasants? And of course the
First Family will never have their names on the
plan's rolls!

Thirty states, including your loyal Peasant's home
state of Wisconsin, have refused to set up any
exchanges, stating that if this nightmarish program
is to go into effect, that the federal government could
jolly well set them up itself. Bravo to my state's
courageous governor, Scott Walker for taking this
tack! And Obama and the HHS have sent loads of
money to Democrat constituency groups, such as
the NAACP, the AFL-CIO, and a few major unions
including the Service Employees International Union
(SEIU) to hire, train, and send out "navigators" to
go out into targeted communities, mostly economic-
ally hurting ones, to sign people up for the exchanges
and ultimately the program. But the training has been
so hurried so as to be slapdash, and many of the
"navigators" themselves don't know much more about
the program and how to get enrolled for it than the
people they are supposed to bring on board! Keep in
mind, my dear readers, that these same unions and
their umbrella outfit the AFL-CIO don't want to, on
the one hand, be required to join the rest of us in
Obamacare, but they are all too happy to take money
from Washington, OUR money, to sign us up for it!
Hypocrisy and elitism are the order of the day!

Meanwhile opposition to Obamacare is growing, as
tracked and measured in opinion polls throughout
the country, and the Democrats are hard-pressed to
assure the public that this sorry program is not the
horror that it in reality is, lying like they never have
before. But the implementation of this atrocity is
coming closer, and will be upon us, unless the
Republicans can muster the guts and the votes to
stop it --- cold. Your faithful Peasant has written
and petitioned both Republicans and Democrats in
Congress to do just that; I know that many of you,
my indefatigable readers have done likewise,
and that is why the push to ram this plan down our
throats has been stymied for the time being. Let's
keep up the pressure until this awful thing has been
turned back once and for all!


MEM